60 or 67 Per Cent: How High the Allowance Really Is
Few figures are misread as often as the 60 per cent in short-time work. It sounds like a massive pay cut, but it is in fact a percentage applied to a comparatively small difference. Anyone who has worked it through once usually assesses their own position far more calmly — and knows precisely where it does genuinely hurt.
What the benefit rate depends on
§ 105 SGB III knows exactly two rates: 67 per cent for employees who would meet the conditions for the increased unemployment benefit rate, and 60 per cent for everyone else. The decisive criterion sits in § 149 SGB III: at least one child within the meaning of § 32 (1), (3) to (5) EStG — either the employee's own child or that of a spouse or civil partner who is not permanently living apart. So a child in the family household is enough; it need not be your own child on your wage tax record.
Other characteristics play no role in the rate: not your age, not your length of service, not your industry and not the duration of the short-time work. The staggered pandemic rates of 70 and 77 per cent from the fourth month and 80 and 87 per cent from the seventh sat in § 421c SGB III and expired on 30 June 2022. Since 1 July 2022 only the standard rates apply. If you come across older explainers online in 2026, check their date carefully.
Why you never receive 60 per cent of your salary
The percentage applies to the net pay difference — the gap between the flat-rate net derived from target pay and the flat-rate net derived from actual pay. With hours cut by 50 per cent you therefore only lose anything on half your pay, and on that half only 40 per cent of the net shortfall. For the other half you continue to receive regular wages.
There is a second effect many people overlook: the portion of pay that falls away is, in tax terms, the topmost and therefore most heavily burdened slice. In net terms it was worth less than the average of your salary anyway. That is why the actual replacement rate — what still reaches your account including the allowance — regularly lands between 80 and 90 per cent of your usual net when the loss of hours is moderate.
Figures that make the difference tangible
On €3,500 gross per month in tax class I with hours cut by 50 per cent, the net pay difference is around €1,043. That yields roughly €626 of allowance at 60 per cent and roughly €696 at 67 per cent. The gap between the two rates in this case is therefore about €70 a month, or around €840 over a full year of short-time work. The short-time work calculator shows what this means for your salary with a single click on the child toggle.
With zero-hours short-time work the spread widens considerably, because the percentages then apply to the entire net shortfall. In the same example, around €1,446 (60 per cent) faces around €1,611 (67 per cent) — a difference of roughly €165 a month. It is precisely in this constellation that it pays to check the child condition properly rather than dismissing it out of hand.
Tax class is the second big lever
Because the flat-rate net deducts wage tax by tax class, your class feeds directly into the size of the allowance. In class III the flat-rate net from target pay is markedly higher than in class V — and so, in turn, are the difference and the allowance. For couples where only one partner will foreseeably go on short-time work, a timely switch can therefore mean real money.
The switch must, however, take effect before the reference period begins, and it only shifts wage tax during the year — the final annual tax stays the same. You can model which combination gives your household the highest combined net in the tax class calculator before you file the application with the tax office.
What to take away
The rule of thumb "60 per cent of your salary" is simply wrong and causes more anxiety than necessary. What is correct: 60 or 67 per cent of the net pay difference, plus the full net from the hours you still work. Three quantities determine the amount — the extent of the loss of work, your tax class, and whether a child within the meaning of § 32 EStG exists. You can vary all three in the short-time work calculator and see the effect immediately. The results are non-binding estimates and do not replace legal advice.